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69. L’Estraine du jour de l’an

GRANSON, 69. «L’ESTRAINE DU JOUR DE L’AN»: EXPLANATORY NOTES

ABBREVIATIONS: A: Lausanne, Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire, MS 350; B: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, f. fr. 1727; C: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, f. fr. 1131; D: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, f. fr. 24440; E: Barcelona, Biblioteca de Catalunya, MS 8, Catalan, 1420–30; F: Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, f. fr. 2201; K: Lausanne, Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire, IS 4254; N: Brussels, Bibliothèque royale Albert 1er, MS 10961–10970, c. 1465; P: Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Van Pelt Library, MS Codex 902 (formerly Fr. MS 15), 1395–1400; 100B: Les Cent Ballades; Basso: “L’envol et l’ancrage”; BD: Chaucer, The Book of the Duchess; Berguerand: Berguerand, Duel; Boulton: Song; Braddy: Braddy, Chaucer and Graunson; Carden: “Le Livre Messire Ode d’Oton de Grandson; CA: Gower, Confessio Amantis; DL: Guillaume de Machaut, Dit dou lyon; DLA: Guillaume de Machaut, Dit de l’alerion; FA: La fonteinne amoureuse; FC: Wimsatt, French Contemporaries; GW: Granson, Poésies, ed. Grenier-Winther; LGW: Chaucer, The Legend of Good Women; PA: Froissart, Paradis d’Amour; PF: Chaucer, The Parliament of Fowls; Piaget: Grandson, Vie et poésies, ed. Piaget; PL: Guillume de Machaut, Poésies Lyriques; Poirion: Poirion, Poète et prince; TC: Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde; RR: Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, Le Roman de la rose; VD: Guillaume de Machaut, Le livre dou voir dit.

This is one of four poems by Granson with a New Year’s setting; see also 8, 13, and 70. An estraine, as Granson uses it in the title, is a New Year’s gift. He uses the related verb, “to give a New Year’s gift,” in lines 22 and 41, and also in 70.14. Estraine can also mean “luck, fortune,” in either good contexts (this poem, line 3) or bad (49.15). Both senses appear to be present in 70.17. For other examples in which a poet offers a New Year’s gift, see Poirion, pp. 117–18.

1–7 Joye, santé . . . ma doulce dame. These lines closely recall the conventional opening formulas of the New Year’s poems of Christine de Pisan (“Bon jour, bon an, bon mois, bonne novelle”; Œuvres poétiques, 2:229) and Jean de Garencières (“Honneur, sancté, parfaicte joye”; Poésies complètes, p. 54), both cited by Poirion, p. 117.

37–38 Vous le sarez, se je puis vivre, / Mieulx par mes fais que par mon livre. Piaget (p. 144) takes these lines as an allusion to Granson’s own Livre Messire Ode (78). See the Introduction, pp. 13.

GRANSON, 69. :«L’ESTRAINE DU JOUR DE L’AN»: TEXTUAL NOTES

Abbreviations: A: Lausanne, Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire, MS 350; B: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fr. 1727; C: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fr. 1131; D: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fr. 24440; E: Barcelona, Biblioteca de Catalunya, MS 8, Catalan, 1420–30; F: Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, fr. 2201; G: London, Westminster Abbey Library, MS 21; H: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fr. 833, c. 1500; J: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fr. 1952; K: Lausanne, Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire, IS 4254; L: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, Rothschild MS I.I.9; M: Carpentras, Bibliothèque Inguimbertine, MS fr. 390; N: Brussels, Bibliothèque royale Albert 1er, MS 10961–10970, c. 1465; O: Karlsruhe, Badische Landesbibliothek, MS 410, c. 1430; P: Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Van Pelt Library, MS Codex 902 (formerly Fr. MS 15), 1395–1400; Q: Berne, Burgerbibliothek da la Bourgeoisie, MS 473, 1400–40; R: Turin, Archivio di Stato, MS J. b. IX. 10; S: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fr. 24404; T: Besançon, Bibliothèque Municipale, MS 556, 1826; V: Carpentras, Bibliothèque Inguimbertine, MS 411; W: Brussels, Bibliothèque royale Albert 1er, MS IV 541, 1564–81; Y: Turin, Biblioteca Nazionale e Universitaria, MS L.II.12.

For each poem, we provide the following:

Other editions: The location of the poem in the editions of Grenier-Winther (GW) and Piaget.

Base MS: The manuscript from which our text is taken, using the sigla listed on this page.

Other copies: The other manuscripts in which the poem appears, with the line numbers for excerpts.

Selected variants: Most of the notes record the editors’ emendations. A small number (for instance, regarding the titles) record alternative readings when we did not emend the base text. We do not, however, provide a complete list of variants, for which one may consult Grenier-Winther’s edition. Each note consists of a line number, a lemma (the reading from our text), the manuscript source for the reading that we have chosen, selected readings from other manuscripts; and the reading from the base manuscript when it was rejected. If no manuscript source is listed following the lemma, the adopted reading is the editors’ conjecture.

Other comments on the text, as required.

GW38, Piaget p. 254.
Base MS P. Other copies: A, F, K.

Title L’Estraine du jour de l’an. So P, F. A: L’Estrainne de gransson. K: L’Estrainne du jour de l’an granson.

30 qui. So A, F, K. P: quil.


 






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69. L’Estraine du jour de l’an

Joye, santé, paix, et honneur,
Bon an, bonne nuit, et bon jour,
Bonne aventure et bonne estraine,
Ma belle dame souveraine,
Et en tout parfaite plaisance
Vous doint Dieu, qui en a puissance,
Et vous ottroit, ma doulce dame,
Aise de corps et salut d’ame,
Joyeux cuer et lie pensee,
Grace et bonne renommee,
Et vous gart ce que vous avez,
Et vous doint ce que vous voulez,
Tousdiz acroissant en plaisir
Au souhait de vostre desir.
Et je, de trestout mon pouoir,
Loyalement et de bon vouloir,
Pour ce que je n’ay don meillour,
Vous donne mon cuer et m’amour,
Mon corps, et tous les biens que j’ay.
Et quanque faire puis ne sçay.
Et se mieulx peusse finer,
De mieulx vous vouldroye estrener,
Non pas pour nouvel don donner,
Mais pour le viel renouveler,
Et sur telle condicion,
Que jamais a m’entencion
Par mon advis ne de mon sens,
A mon vivant ne a mon temps,
Ne vueil penser, dire, ne faire
Chose qui vous doye desplaire.
Mais ay propos et voulanté
De vous servir tousdiz a gré,
Et de vous amer et doubter,
Et obeir et dezirer,
Plus fort de ce jour en avant
Que je ne fis onques devant.
Vous le sarez, se je puis vivre,
Mieulx par mes fais que par mon livre.
Or vous doint Dieu vouloir aussi
Que vous ayez de moy mercy,
Et lors seray bien estrenez
Ce jour de l’an qui est entrez.
 
69. The New Year’s Gift

Joy, health, peace, and honor,
A good year, good night, and good day,
Good luck and good fortune,
My beautiful sovereign lady,
And complete pleasure in every way
May God, who has the power, give you,
And may he grant you, my gentle lady,
Ease of body and salvation of soul,
Joyous heart and happy thought,
Grace and good reputation,
And may he protect what you have,
And may he give you what you want,
Constantly increasing in pleasure
According to the wish of your desire.
And I, with all my power,
Loyally and with good will,
Because I have no better gift,
Give you my heart and my love,
My body, and all the goods I have.
And what to do next I do not know.
And if I could conclude better,
I would want to offer you a better gift,
Not in order to give you a new one,
But in order to renew the old,
And upon this condition,
That never intentionally
By my decision or my conscious thought,
While I am alive or in my time,
Do I wish to think, say, or do
Anything that might displease you.
But it is my purpose and my will
To serve you constantly and willingly,
And to love and fear you,
And obey and desire you,
More strongly from this day forward
Than I ever did before.
You will know it, if I may live,
More by my deeds than by my writing.
And may God also give you the wish
To have mercy upon me,
And then will I be well provided with a gift
On this New Year’s Day.
 
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